Innocence Maintained
by Queen Isolde
Summary: [Oneshot] Hawksong. 'I would avenge Gregory's death. I would avenge Anjay's, Carson's and Sisal's. But not by taking Danica's life.'


Well, Zane's talked about this night enough for me to be curious as to what stopped him from killing Danica, so here this goes. I do flip a bit between time frames, but I hope it's not too confusing. Disclaimer; I own nothing, only the vague trace of a plot. Just a thing I had to get out of my system, enjoy.

**_Cassie_**

* * *

Adelina's words echoed in my mind, haunting my thoughts as my feet continued to climb the servant stairs. 

"It's Gregory, Zane. He–" she had try to say, her voice weak against the silence of the hall. We had been at the Palace, Adelina had just returned from the battlefield.

I knew then what had happened. My brother, my brother, was dead. _Dead_. The word had rooted itself deep inside my heart since I had first learned how to fight, since I had first learned of war.

"_Don't_." I commanded through gritted teeth.

"Zane, you have to know. He was killed, but Ailbhe said that he hadn't been alone," she continued, her tone pleading.

"Stop."

"He saw Gregory in the arms of one of _them_," Adelina pressed on, "the Hawk princess." I knew at once Adelina was talking about Danica Shardae, heir to the Avian throne. I had told no one I had gone to the Hawk's Keep that night for the first time, four years ago.

"Adelina." I said in a warning tone, my head and heart reeling with the loss of Gregory.

But she didn't stop. "Ailbhe said that she was singing. To Gregory. _Singing_, Zane," she spat out the word like it was poison.

I will not lie and say that that eased any of the biting pain I felt close in around my heart, but something in my mind tugged at the knowledge. Their Avian heir had taken the time of day to sing a little lament out of what, pity? Sadness? The Avians had no souls. They showed no emotion. They did not bare their hearts. All I had seen of their princess was her sleeping form, mind caught in nightmares of battle and blood. I know because I watched her sleep, watched her struggle with the invisible enemies, watched her battle her demons.

It made me sick that someone so young, younger than me, had to face that kind of life.

"Stop!"

"Zane, don't you see? They are trying to justify their killing of our Princes. You have to do something. Don't hide in the Palace away from the battle anymore – _do_ something!" Adelina demanded.

My hand lashed out before I could stop it, and I didn't want to stop it. Adelina had implicated that I did not fight, that I had not tried to save my people. The very thought sickened me to the core of my being. She had blocked my lash, and cast aside my hand like I had just tried to bite her, and left the hall.

And now?

The balcony on the fifth floor of the Hawk's Keep was not an easy feat, but experience paved the path for me.

The aftermath of knowing that all the family I had left, all of the Cobriana line that was left, was my sister, mother and I. My family was whole once. Before my father had been killed, before my mother had been made sole ruler of the Serpiente, Anjay as her heir. Anjay had been ready to take the throne, and only the fear of losing his Naga to the Avians had stopped him from choosing a mate.

Now I was Arami, the Serpiente heir, their last Prince.

I once had three brothers and two sisters, a mother and a father. Now all I had left was Irene and my mother. I vowed that night that I would let no harm come to them. I also vowed to destroy the one person that had been able to be with my brother Gregory when he had died.

All I knew about the Hawk Queen's only remaining heir was her name: Danica Shardae. The brief glimpses I had gotten of the Avian over the past few years had been limited. Though the name meant nothing to me, I knew without a doubt that it had been her beauty that had saved her life the night I had found out Anjay had been killed. I had an intent to kill that night, when I had become Arami to my people.

Until I saw her.

I had felt my heart burn for Anjay's death, only one of many that I would have to face. I had felt the rage bubble in my blood, so close to the surface of my skin. I had felt the anger well up deep inside of me, coming up to turn into blind rage, which I would use as a weapon for murder. I had felt the despair and grief cloud my mind when I had lost another brother, Gregory, who had only seen seventeen years of life. I had felt the fire encompass my heart, blinding me to all reason.

All of it, every shred of anger and hate and grief, faded in that moment once again. I didn't know why I came to Keep, and watched her sleep. I knew what stopped me the night Anjay had been killed, but the other times? Every time I lost someone I loved I would come to the Keep, intent on taking Danica Shardae's life. And every time the simple sight of her stopped me.

No light, save the evanescence of the moon's presence in the room, painted the picture before me that night, the night I had become Arami.

Danica Shardae, heir to the Avian throne, the last daughter and only remaining child of the Tuuli Thea Nacola Shardae, lay on her bed, body draped in exhaustion, my gaze lingering on the beauty of her form. Half of her face was hidden from me, as I slowly stepped closer, her golden hair draping across her neck and shoulders. The white of her pants and deep bronze of her tunic, her golden hair shining softly, could have made anyone mistake her for a goddess. Her eyes were closed in sleep, her features taught with nightmares.

I couldn't name the feeling I felt in the deep of my stomach, that night four years ago. No. I _wouldn't_ name it. I had been fifteen at the time, naïve and ignorant of the horror of the battlefield.

My feet had taken me to the edge of her bed. Without telling it to my hand reached out, so slowly as if a fast movement would destroy the moment in time, towards her face. Her chest rose and fell with breaths that I had been determined to take away. The instant my hand touched her cheek; her hushed cry broke the silence between us. She had another cut along the side of her cheek that had been hidden by the side of her pillow, the blood now dry on her skin. The sound shook me out of my stupor of her presence, and out of my daze.

I had come to one realization that night, four years ago:

She was Danica Shardae, the only successor the Tuuli Thea had, the _only_ heir. I could've ended it then. I could have taken her life. It would have been easy. It would have been effortless. But I had not been a killer then, had not smelled the stench of blood.

I knew that Danica Shardae was not responsible for a war that had started hundreds of years ago, time and history clouding the truth. Was she responsible for Anjay's death? For Carson's? Sisal's and her child's? What about my father's? Had she drawn the knife laced with poison designed to kill our kind?

No, she hadn't. She hadn't done any of that. She wasn't responsible for the war any more than I was.

I came to terms with that the night I had become Arami.

Now, looking down onto her sleeping form, knowing that I had just lost Gregory, knowing that he had died - died, yes, but not alone. I didn't know what had made Danica Shardae sing to him, as Adelina had told me Alibhe had seen. I didn't know what had made her watch yet another life slip into the darkness of death.

What had made her sing? What had made her stay with him?

I would avenge Gregory's death. I would avenge Anjay's, Carson's and Sisal's, and her unborn child's. But not by taking Danica's life.

Someday I'd find a way to end the fighting. For all the loved ones I'd lost, and all the Serpiente I never knew that had given their lives to the cause of war. And maybe even for Danica Shardae, I'd find a way to end the fighting.

Her beauty had stopped me from drawing a knife that night four years ago, but the innocence I saw in her had kept me coming back.

Her innocence maintained.

* * *

I've got a fic in the works right now, one that tells of the short lived life of Alasdair, and of the eight Serpiente that were supposedly killed by her guards. If you're interested in seeing that fic, let me know. I've got about five chapters written so far, so...this was kind of a epilogue to the story. Reviews enjoyed, and critique is welcomed. 


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